OMAHA, Neb. – Terri Sanders stood among the dozens of voters who turned out Tuesday afternoon to pick up campaign signs at a Democratic event in north Omaha.

“I haven’t seen outreach like this in a long time,” the 67-year-old CEO of an African-American newspaper said of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris‘ organizing campaign in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha. “Not since Obama.”

The honking car horns and pulsing music were a small measure of the energy Harris and Democrats are putting toward winning a single Electoral College vote, thanks to a quirky formula that allocates Nebraska’s five electoral votes based on the votes in individual congressional districts in an otherwise reliably Republican state.

In a national race that by all current measures seems exceedingly close, one small electoral vote could provide the margin of victory. So Democrats have planted a large flag.

Harris and Democratic groups have spent more than $5 million in the district since she entered the race on July 23, and have more than $6 million in ad time reserved through Election Day, Nov. 5, according to the media-tracking firm AdImpact. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign, on the other hand, had spent only about $95,000 on advertising in the state and had reserved roughly $6,800 through Nov. 5.

Trump and Republican allies had sought another route to victory, namely to persuade the Republican-dominated Legislature to rewrite the state’s rules and make Nebraska a winner-take-all contest instead of awarding its Electoral College votes by congressional district. Maine is the only other state that awards its votes that way. (Trump won the Nebraska district in 2016, but Joe Biden won it in 2020.)

A Republican state senator in Nebraska took that option off the table on Monday when he refused to bow to pressure from Trump and other Republicans to change the rules so close to the election.

Lacking the votes in Nebraska’s unicameral Legislature, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen said Tuesday he would not call a special session to attempt the change.

…